Elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers

ABSTRACT

An elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, manufactured by randomly paving bicomponent elastic composite fibers as a layer and hot-rolling. The bicomponent elastic composite fiber includes an inner core fiber of SBS, SEBS, TPO or TPS and a sheath outer layer of PP or PE covering on an outer surface of the inner core fiber. A ratio of a thickness of the sheath outer layer to a radius of the inner core fiber is 1:9 to 9:1. The bicomponent elastic composite fiber has a linear density of 0.5-5 deniers, a stretchability of 300-600%, and a deformation rate of 0-25% after being stretched to 400%. The present invention has the advantages of good elasticity, good stretchability, good dyeability, acid and alkali resistance, quick-drying and non-absorbency, antibacterial and deodorizing, and light and soft texture properties, thereby can avoid cold and sticky feel and will not cause reflection.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of Taiwanese patent application No. 108201810, filed on Feb. 11, 2019, which is incorporated herewith by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an elastic non-woven fabric, and more particularly, to an elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers.

2. The Prior Arts

In recent years, with the prevalence of the fashion of leisure sports, the sales volume of functional sports fabrics have also increased. Meanwhile, the general consumer's demand for fabric functionality has gradually increased as well. For example, in addition to being lighter, moisture wicking, antibacterial and deodorant, it is further desired that an elastic fiber fabric having a close-fitting comfort can reduce restraint feeling. Therefore, in terms of material technology, there are a need for more moving possibility between stretching and restoring as well as a need for striking an optimal balance between functionality and comfort.

Since the processing steps have been improved year by year, the fabrication technology for elastic textile fiber has already have advantages of easier manufacturing and processing, durability, rapid production efficiency and low cost and has been widely used in many functional sports fabrics.

However, in related arts, there are still the following disadvantages of the conventional elastic fiber fabric needed to be overcome.

First, take an elastic fiber fabric made of a diene-based elastic fiber (elastic thread) as an example; it is not suitable for a user who has severe allergic symptoms to latex. Generally, synthetic rubber such as neoprene, butyl rubber and the like is used instead to avoid allergic reactions. However, the cost of synthetic rubber is generally higher, so that the elastic fiber fabric made of synthetic rubber is less competitive.

In addition, the materials which are more widely used to make elastic fiber fabrics also include polyurethane fiber (Spandex, OP, Elastane, elastic yarn). However, there are several problems for polyurethane fiber: first, there are problems of difficulties in recycling; second, it produces dioxin which seriously pollutes the environment during burning; third, it has poor weather resistance and light resistance, which affects the service life.

Further, polyether ester elastic fibers (TPEE) are also common materials of elastic fiber fabrics. However, since the fiber hardness of the polyether ester elastic fiber is higher, it affects the softness of the elastic fiber fabric. Meanwhile, since the processing conditions are also more rigorous, more precise processing machines must be used and thus the cost is considerably expensive.

Moreover, because each of the elastic fibers is formed by directly drawing the fiber of one-component elastomer, there are inter-adhesion problems among multiple elastic fibers of the elastic fiber fabric.

In particular, the fabric has a high requirement temperature for dyeing and setting (thermal dimensional stability, antiwrinkling). Further, for example, elastic fibers of polyurethane (Spandex, OP, Elastane), polyester, and polyamide (Nylon) must withstand a high temperature of 180-240° C. with thermosetting. Moreover, the thermosetting temperature of such polyurethane elastic fibers, which is above 180° C., is higher than the melting point of polypropylene (PP) fibers, which is 160° C. Thereby, after covering the polypropylene fibers on such polyurethane elastic fibers to form yarns, the effect of thermosetting is affected by the difference in glass transition points (Tg) between different materials. It is well known that when the temperature is too low, the elastic fiber fabric cannot be wrinkle-free and stabilized in size; while when the temperature is too high, the polypropylene fiber will convert into fluid state and the fiber configuration thereof will melt, and thus will be unusable.

The existing polypropylene fiber is a fiber which becomes colored by adding colored masterbatch during the production of the fibers. However, this will result in lower color diversity than conventional method in which the cloth is dyed and finished after weaving.

For example, the polyester fiber has a dyeing temperature of about 130-135° C., the Nylon fiber (Nylon 66) has a dyeing temperature of about 110° C., and the OP elastic yarn has a dyeing temperature of about 125° C., which are all quite high. In particular, although the OP elastic yarn (polymerized yarn) has dyeability, it is difficult to be deeply colored, that is, the dye adheres only on the surface, such that the overall dyeing fastness is extremely poor.

There is a conventional non-woven fabric constituted of a plurality of bicomponent composite fibers. Each of the bicomponent composite fibers has a core-sheath bicomponent fiber structure, which includes a core layer and a sheath layer covering the core layer. Due to the differences of the physical properties and the feel between the sheath layers and the core layers of the plurality of bicomponent composite fibers, such conventional non-woven fabric can achieve the effect that the sheath layer has a better feel while the core layer has a stronger physical property. However, both the core layer and the sheath layer of each of the bicomponent composite fibers of such conventional non-woven fabric use inelastic fibers, such that the non-woven fabric is inelastic.

Further, there is another conventional non-woven fabric constituted of a plurality of inelastic fibers in a side by side configuration, wherein the fibers can naturally curl and thus increase the feel. However, such conventional non-woven fabrics are still inelastic.

In addition, there is yet another conventional elastic non-woven fabric manufactured by directly spun-bonding a plurality of the aforementioned fibers. In addition to the disadvantages of the aforementioned fibers, such conventional elastic non-woven fabrics also have the problem of cold and sticky feel.

Moreover, there is still another conventional elastic non-woven fabric manufactured by spun-bonding a plurality of the aforementioned fibers and a plurality of non-elastic fibers mixedly. However, such conventional elastic non-woven fabric has poor stretchability, and may cause a reflection phenomenon because the aforementioned fibers are exposed outside.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide an elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, wherein a thermoplastic elastic material is used as an inner core fiber of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers to obtain excellent properties of elasticity and stretchability; and a hard thermoplastic material is used as a sheath outer layer of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers to avoid cold and sticky feel and reflection phenomenon.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, which has excellent dyeability.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide an elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, which has the advantages of acid and alkali resistance, quick-drying and non-absorbency, antibacterial and deodorizing, recyclable and reusable properties; in addition, the light and soft texture thereof allows it to be suitable for applying to thin coats, close-fitting clothing or diapers and thus these applications can be more comfortable to be worn.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, manufactured by randomly paving a plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers as a layer and then fixing it by a plurality of hot-rolling points, wherein each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a bicomponent fiber structure with a core sheath or a core spun and includes an inner core fiber and a sheath outer layer covering on an outer surface of the inner core fiber.

Wherein, the inner core fiber includes a polystyrene copolymer material such as a styrene-butadiene block copolymer, a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) or a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer (TPO), or includes a thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer (TPS).

Wherein, the sheath outer layer includes polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE).

Wherein, a ratio of a thickness of the sheath outer layer to a radius of the inner core fiber is between 1:9 to 9:1.

Wherein, each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a linear density of 0.5-5 deniers and a stretchability of 300-600%.

Wherein, each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a deformation rate of 0-25% after being stretched to 400%.

Preferably, the inner core fiber has a stretchability of 100-600%.

Preferably, the sheath outer layer has dyeability.

Preferably, the polypropylene has a graft-dyeing base for dyeing.

Preferably, the ratio of the thickness of the sheath outer layer to the radius of the inner core fiber is 9:1; the bicomponent elastic composite fiber has a linear density of 1-3 deniers and a stretchability of 500%; and the bicomponent elastic composite fiber has a deformation rate of 1% after being stretched to 400%.

The effects of the present invention are that a thermoplastic elastic material is used as an inner core fiber of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers to obtain excellent properties of elasticity and stretchability; and a hard thermoplastic material is used as a sheath outer layer of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers to avoid cold and sticky feel and reflection phenomenon.

Further, the present invention can achieve excellent dyeability by providing a dyeable sheath outer layer.

Moreover, the present invention has the advantages of acid and alkali resistance, quick-drying and non-absorbency, antibacterial and deodorizing, recyclable and reusable properties; in addition, the light and soft texture thereof allows it to be suitable for applying to thin coats, close-fitting clothing or diapers and thus these applications can be more comfortable to be worn.

In addition, the polypropylene (PP) constituting the sheath outer layer has a characteristic of low dyeing temperature (lower than the melting point thereof of 160° C., about 70-110° C.), which is far lower than the dyeing temperature of polyester (PET), nylon (Nylon 66) and OP elastic yarn (130-135° C., 110° C., and 125° C., respectively), such that the dyeing energy and the dyeing time can be reduced, thereby achieving energy-saving effect.

Furthermore, the sheath outer layer and the inner core fiber can be used for one-time fiber drawing production of the bicomponent elastic composite fiber. Therefore, it allows not only a simpler production process but also a raw material cost lower than that using the conventional technology of directly spun-bonding elastomer. In addition, there is almost no pollutant generated during the production process. Moreover, it is very easy to be recycled and reused, thereby achieving the circular economy of recycling and reuse.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a bicomponent elastic composite fiber of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings and the reference numerals, such that those skilled in the art can implement it after studying this specification.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, wherein FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention and FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a bicomponent elastic composite fiber 10 of the present invention. The present invention provides an elastic non-woven fabric 1 with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, which is manufactured by randomly paving a plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 as a layer and then fixing it by a plurality of hot-rolling points 20.

The hot-rolling point technology is commonly known as spun-bonding technology, wherein the plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 are firstly randomly paved as a layer on a conveyor belt (not shown); then, a heated roller (not shown) is used to roll at several places of the plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10, which are randomly paved as a layer, to form a plurality of hot-rolling points 20, thereby the plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 are fixed by heat fusion.

Each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 includes an inner core fiber 11 and a sheath outer layer 12. The sheath outer layer 12 covers on an outer surface of the inner core fiber 11. The inner core fiber 11 is constituted of a thermoplastic elastic material and the sheath outer layer 12 is constituted of a thermoplastic material, such that each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 has excellent elasticity. Preferably, the sheath outer layer 12 is constituted of a dyeable thermoplastic material, such that each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 may also have dyeability.

In particular, each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 essentially has a bicomponent fiber structure with a core sheath or a core spun. Each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 has a linear density of 0.5-5 deniers and a stretchability of 300-600%. Each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10 has a deformation rate of 0-25% after being stretched to 400%.

Further, the inner core fiber 11 includes a polystyrene copolymer material such as a styrene-butadiene block copolymer, a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) or a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer (TPO), or includes a thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer (TPS). Furthermore, the inner core fiber 11 has a stretchability of 100-600%.

It is well known that the above-mentioned thermoplastic polystyrene elastomers (TPS), which are also referred to as styreneic block copolymers (SBCs), are a type of thermoplastic elastomer with the largest production currently in the world and having the properties most similar to that of rubber. Currently, there are mainly four types in the species of the thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer series, that is: styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS), styrene-isoprene-styrene block copolymer (SIS), styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) and styrene-ethylene-propylene-styrene block copolymer (SEPS), wherein SEBS and SEPS are hydrogenated copolymers of SBS and SIS, respectively.

Further, the hard segment of the thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer (TPO) is a polyolefin material such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) or the like, and the soft segment thereof is a rubber such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and the like. Generally, TPO is formed by polymerization using metallocene as a catalyst, wherein the hard segment and the soft segment are directly combined by a covalent bond, and thus TPO is also referred to as M-POE.

In addition, the sheath outer layer 12 may include hard material such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) and has dyeability, and the ratio of a thickness of the sheath outer layer 12 to the radius of the inner core fiber 11 may be between 1:9 to 9:1, in order to adjust the optimal properties of softness, stretchability, restoring rate, tensile strength and the like according to practical needs. Preferably, the above-mentioned polypropylene may have graft-dyeing bases for enhancing dyeability.

In a preferred embodiment, the ratio of the thickness of the sheath outer layer 12 to the radius of the inner core fiber 11 is 1:9; the bicomponent elastic composite fiber 10 has a linear density of 1-3 deniers and a stretchability of 500%; and the bicomponent elastic composite fiber 10 has a deformation rate of 1% after being stretched to 400%.

Since the polypropylene (PP) constituting the sheath outer layer 12 has a characteristic of low dyeing temperature (lower than 160° C., about 70-110° C.), which is far lower the dyeing temperature of polyurethane (Spandex, OP, Elastane), polyester (PET), nylon (Nylon 66) and OP elastic yarn (180° C., 130-135° C., 110° C. and 125° C., respectively), the dyeing energy and the dyeing time can be reduced, thereby achieving energy-saving effect.

Furthermore, the sheath outer layer 12 and the inner core fiber 11 can be used for one-time fiber drawing production of the bicomponent elastic composite fiber 10. Therefore, it allows not only a simpler production process but also a raw material cost lower than that of the commercially available elastic yarn (Spandex). In addition, there is almost no pollutant generated during the production process. Moreover, it is very easy to be recycled and reused, thereby achieving the circular economy of recycling and reuse.

In summary, the present invention has excellent properties of elasticity and stretchability by using a thermoplastic elastic material as the inner core fiber 11 of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10. In addition, the present invention can avoid cold and sticky feel and will not cause reflection phenomenon by using a hard thermoplastic material as the sheath outer layer 12 of each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers 10.

Further, by using polypropylene with graft-dyeing bases as the sheath outer layer 12, the present invention can have a better dyeability (SDY 110° C. dyeing) than the general polypropylene fiber, and have the same grade of washing fastness (SDY 110° C. dyeing) as polyester (PET). In particular, the practical needs of optimum properties of softness, stretchability, restoring rate, tensile strength and the like can be satisfied by adjusting the ratio of the thickness of the sheath outer layer 12 to the radius of the inner core fiber 11.

The mentioned above are only preferred embodiments for explaining the present invention but intend to limit the present invention in any forms, so that any modifications or verification relating to the present invention made in the same spirit of the invention should still be included in the scope of the invention as intended to be claimed. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An elastic non-woven fabric with bicomponent elastic composite fibers, manufactured by randomly paving a plurality of bicomponent elastic composite fibers as a layer and then fixing it by a plurality of hot-rolling points, wherein each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a bicomponent fiber structure with a core sheath or a core spun and includes an inner core fiber and a sheath outer layer covering on an outer surface of the inner core fiber; wherein the inner core fiber includes a polystyrene copolymer material of a styrene-butadiene block copolymer, a styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS) or a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer (TPO), or includes a thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer (TPS); wherein the sheath outer layer includes polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE); wherein a ratio of a thickness of the sheath outer layer to a radius of the inner core fiber is between 1:9 to 9:1; wherein each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a linear density of 0.5-5 deniers and a stretchability of 300-600%; and wherein each of the bicomponent elastic composite fibers has a deformation rate of 0-25% after being stretched to 400%.
 2. The elastic non-woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the inner core fiber has a stretchability of 100-600%.
 3. The elastic non-woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the sheath outer layer has dyeability.
 4. The elastic non-woven fabric according to claim 3, wherein the polypropylene has a graft-dyeing base for dyeing.
 5. The elastic non-woven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the thickness of the sheath outer layer to the radius of the inner core fiber is 9:1, the bicomponent elastic composite fiber has a linear density of 1-3 deniers and a stretchability of 500%, and the bicomponent elastic composite fiber has a deformation rate of 1% after stretching to 400%. 